A small stone is tied to one end of a light string and whirled in a horizontal circle…
PHYSICS · Subjective · CBSE · Physics · Motion in a Plane · Motion in a Plane
Problem
A small stone is tied to one end of a light string and whirled in a horizontal circle close to the ground. The string suddenly snaps when the stone is at point P on the circle.
(i) In which direction will the stone start moving immediately after the string breaks? Draw a neat labelled sketch to support your answer.
(ii) Explain why the stone follows this path although its speed just before the snap was constant.
(iii) If the same experiment were performed far away from any massive body so that gravity could be neglected, how, if at all, would the path after the string snaps be different? Give reasons.